An Early End
by Sapphire Blue Frost
Summary: What happens if the Grand Pope decided to act sooner and kill Saori Kido before she can actually cause trouble?


**This scene takes place on the day Andromeda Shun was about to fight with Unicorn Jabu.**

* * *

The lights dimmed as the Unicorn and Andromeda Saints prepare to fight each other. Suddenly, there was a loud sound of breaking glass as all the cameras in the arena broke. Loud screams prompted the arena lights quickly lit up but there was no one out of place that was in sight. Yet, there were roses, lovely red roses spreading their petals, covering the arena.

"Shun! Shun!" A blond female dress in pink ran down one of the aisles to ring. "You have to run! They're here!"

"June? What's wrong?" The Andromeda Saint asked, alarmed at the state of his friend. "Who hurt you?"

"The Gold Saints! They destroyed Andromeda Island. Scorpio Milo killed everyone. They want the Bronze Clothes back!" She gasped as a white rose buried itself into her chest and slowly turned red. Then she dropped onto the ground, accompanied by more screams of panic.

When the audience tried to flee, the exits collapsed into itself, sealing everyone into the arena.

"Why panic when your deaths are already sealed? All of you will be following her into the land of the dead." A gleeful voice sneered and everyone followed the voice to find a brunette clad in gold armor.

"Are you Scorpio Milo?" Shun asked, voice trembling in anger.

"Why, of course. But I wasn't the only one sent to Andromeda Island and I surely wasn't the one who killed your little friend there."

The temperature in the arena dropped by at least 30 degrees and it started snowing. The roses seem to become fuller and the shadows became longer.

" ?" Hyoga asked as he stared in disbelief as the Aquarius Saint made himself seen along with several others.

"Hello, Hyoga. It is a pity you are actually indulging yourself in such pointless battles."

"Why are you here?"

"I am the Aquarius Gold Saint. Why shouldn't I be here?"

Seiya shook with anger. "What about the rest of you? How dare you interrupt the battle and start killing people as you wish?"

And next to Camus was a beautiful man who introduced himself as Aphrodite, the Pisces Gold Saint. He held a red rose in his mouth, clamped lightly between his full pink lips. His long curly light blue hair swirled around him as the invisible wind blew the rose petals around. His looks would have caused many girls and probably boys to faint if only they were not terrified of what was about to come.

A sneer came from the person beside Aphrodite. "I am Deathmask, Cancer Gold Saint."

"Why are you here to kill us?" Saori Kido asked, elegant and calm as always.

"Your grandfather stole the Sagittarius Gold Cloth from the Sanctuary. We have come to retrieve it, along with all the Bronze Clothes too. The Cloths are used to protect Athena and serve the Grand Pope. We will not allow you to sully them to fight pointless battles. Besides, only a Saint born under the Sagittarius constellation can wear the Cloth and only if the Cloth choses them. How many of you fighting are actually Sagittarius's?" Shura, the Capricorn Gold Saint made himself known, appearing behind Saori.

When Saori Kido spun around, another white rose buried itself into her chest.

"Miss!" Tatsumi cried out as he lunged forward to rip the rose out of his mistress's chest but was too late as the rose turned red and the girl dropped dead. The Bronze Saints traced the rose back to Aphrodite, whose eyes sparkled in amusement. Shura then threw Tatsumi out the compartment they were standing in when the foolish man tried to attack him.

Aphrodite turned to leave. "Come now, they'll all be dead within the next minute, anyway."

"We've only just arrived. Why not have a little fun, Dite?" Deathmask suggested, a sadistic smile on his face as he stared at the Bronzes. "Who wants to die faster?"

Jabu, the Unicorn Saint, stupidly stepped up. "I'll make you pay for killing Miss Saori." He lunged for an attack on Aphrodite but was stopped by Deathmask.

Aphrodite shook his head. "You are only a Bronze Saint. What can you do?"

Deathmask stared at Jabu, unimpressed. "It'll be even more fun if all of you attack at the same time."

However, he tilted his head slightly to the side to avoid Nebula Chain whose target was in fact Aphrodite, who had raised an arm for the chain to wrap around.

The Cancer Saint laughed. "Well, that's to be expected. Maybe he'd like to challenge you for the title of the fairest Saint."

Aphrodite merely smirked and brush his hair back into its position on his right shoulder in response. "Pity that at the end of this night he will just be another corpse." He followed as the chain yanked him down into the arena and landed lightly on his feet.

"You're the one who killed Miss Saori and June. I can't forgive you for that. Nebula Chain!" Shun tried to attack Aphrodite with the Triangle Chain but it only wrapped around his other arm.

"Honestly, you Bronze Saints think you're all that, don't you?" He flared his cosmos and watched as it blew the other Saint back into the wall. Then he heard a growl behind him.

"I don't like it when people pick on my younger brother," and an attack pushed him forward onto his knee. But when the newcomer tried to attack him again, he melted into the mist of rose petals.

"I'll leave him and those Black Saints to you," he called to the others and was visible again when Shun used Thunder Wave to find him, knocking off his helmet in the process.

"Are you having trouble with a few Bronzes now, Dite?" Deathmask taunted yet still help attack the Black Saints.

"They'll be dead soon enough. Why are we still here anyway?"

"To have some fun testing their skill."

But sure enough, the audience members began to drop to the ground, losing all feeling in their limbs. Then, one by one, they closed their eyes as if they were about to go to sleep, only they didn't wake up again.

"What did you do?" Seiya shouted, furious.

Aphrodite smiled, giggling, and gracefully removed the red rose from his mouth and waved it in their direction. "Royal Demon Rose. A rose which can kill slowly and gently if you touch it or smell it. They were normal people. Their bodies can't stand the poison for a long period of time. You're lucky that these are my weaker ones. Soon, you'll all end up like that."

Phoenix Ikki was stopped by Shura whose skill at handling the Excalibur allowed him to cut the younger Saint without damaging the Phoenix Cloth at all.

Meanwhile, Hyoga was engaging Camus who had helped his student reach Absolute Zero and yet still won when the poisonous roses started having an effect on the Cygnus Saint.

The other, lesser, Bronze Saints all collapsed, their bodies numb and unable to move. They all showed a look of contentment as they drifted off into a dreamless sleep, dying quietly. The other battles were also drawing to a close.

Ikki and his Black Saints were clearly no match for Deathmask and Shura. Deathmask took his time ripping their souls from their bodies before beating the bodies up into bloody pulps. Aphrodite destroyed the Nebula Chains and the Andromeda Cloth before killing Shun with a Bloody Rose. Though impressed that the Bronze Saint had found him in the midst of his roses and had nearly managed to hurt him, he paid no mind to the corpse and was already fixing his face and hair. Seiya, engaging Scorpio, died after the Antares was deployed, though he was already a mindless screaming mass of pain by the Sixth Star. Milo's sadistic personality had kept him from quickly killing the Saint.

"Mu's going to be angry with you for destroying the cloth." Shura informed Aphrodite who flipped his hair. "Was it truly necessary?"

"Yes. The chains were protecting him from my roses. Besides, Mu's never been fond of me anyways. What are we going to do with the dead bodies?" He started inspecting his nails.

"Dice them up into unrecognizable pieces? Skewer them? Blow this place up?" Deathmask listed the suggestions and got dirty looks for his trouble.

"Just burn it with fire." And when the place was unrecognizable, they teleported out, arriving back at the Sanctuary in a matter of seconds, ready to report the success of their mission to the Grand Pope after dropping off the Bronze and Gold Clothes at Mu's for repair. The purple-haired man was very annoyed with the damage.


End file.
